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Rose Care in Omaha by Master Rosarian Don Swanson

Selection of Roses – People will often say “I just can’t get roses to grow”. Many times the person bought roses that required more care than they were prepared to provide. Here in the Omaha area, we are particularly interested in whether roses can survive our often-brutal winters and if the roses are resistant to blackspot. (Blackspot is a fungal disease of roses that can cause the rose to lose its leaves and weaken the plant.)

Following are the four most popular types of roses. They have been listed in order from easiest to grow to most difficult.

  • Shrub Roses can be large or small. The form of the flower may be the traditional florist look, an “old garden” loose flower look or consist of a single row of petals. Shrub roses are generally grown on their own roots and so are winter-hardy; they are usually more disease resistant. Be sure to select shrubs with an eye to their expected size, as some shrubs can be quite large others may be too small for the intended location.
  • Floribunda Roses are usually budded on a rootstock, but are still quite hardy and usually disease resistant. The bloom form can be florist-like or a bit like a pom-pom.
  • Miniature Roses are grown on their own roots and so are winter-hardy, but you must be careful to select varieties that are disease resistant. Miniatures roses are similar to the popular hybrid teas in form, but are much smaller. Many varieties of miniatures are susceptible to blackspot.
  • Hybrid Tea Roses are grown budded on a rootstock, usually need winter protection and many are prone to blackspot and require weekly spraying to produce well. These are the roses that come first to mind with the popular Hybrid Tea Peace being probably the best-known rose of all.

    • To get roses that look like they come from a florist, you will need to plant Hybrid Tea, Miniature or Floribunda roses. The downside is the plants will require regular spraying to prevent blackspot and will require some winter protection.

    Purchase

    – Good quality bushes can be grown from bare-root plants purchased from a reputable mail order nursery. If you decide to purchase roses locally, buy good looking potted plants. Don’t buy plants that look dead – they probably will be soon.

    Location

    – Roses require six hours or more of full sunlight a day in the summer. A very few roses can be grown in partial shade and still bloom. Roses can be grown in mixed flower gardens, but if the roses require spraying and winter protection they are more easily cared for in their own bed. Raised beds allow excess water to drain.

    Bed Preparation

    – Before planting, prepare the soil by amending it with compost, dried manure or other decayed organic matter. OmaGro is a very good product to use. Other good soil amendments are sphagnum peat moss and perlite. The author uses a mix of about half soil, a quarter OmaGro, and one quarter perlite (by volume.) Do not use sand, or any clay products such as kitty litter or vermiculite. Mix the soil and amendments thoroughly.

    Planting

    – If you purchase potted roses, wait until after April fifteenth to plant them in your garden. Keep the plants well-watered in the meantime and be prepared to move them inside if frost or freeze is predicted.If you buy bare-root roses at any time, I would suggest you pot them for a time. This allows you to move them inside if a frost or freeze is predicted. Potting allows the roots to get a good start before planting the bush in the garden. I pot in a three gallon or so pot using a good professional type potting soil from the garden center. I soak the plant overnight before potting to allow the roots to hydrate. Water the potted plant thoroughly. After planting, I tightly cover the plant and pot with a large plastic bag and place the plant in the shade. When the plant begins to bud, I gradually tear away the bag. After the bag is removed, move the plant from heavy shade to sunlight for longer periods of time each day. When the plant is fully leafed out, plant the bush in your garden. When planting in the garden, make your hole big enough to hold the root ball and allow the graft to be planted two inches below the ground level. Fill around the root ball with garden soil and water the plant in well. Keep the plant well-watered.(If you are planting a bare-root plant, soak it overnight before planting. After planting hill up around the plant with dirt or mulch for two weeks or so to keep the plant from drying out. Keep it well-watered.) Dig the hole big enough for the plant’s roots to fit. If the plant is a grafted Hybrid Tea or Floribunda, plant the bud union about two inches below ground for increased winter survival. Place the plant in the hole. Fill in around the plant and water it well. The soil will settle immediately – so add more soil and water. Keep the plant well-watered. Label & map – Keep a map of where each rose variety is planted in your yard – for that matter, keep a map of all of your plants. Plant labels will enhance your garden visitor’s pleasure by identifying each plant. Your plant map will allow you to replace the plant labels after the neighborhood boy moves them around.

    Pruning

    – The traditional time to prune roses is when the forsythia comes into bloom. In Omaha, this usually is about April fifteenth. A Warning – many Old Garden Roses and Climbing Roses bloom on wood that grew in the previous year. Unless you know for sure this is not true for your rose, it is better to wait until after the first bloom of the year (early June in Omaha) to prune OGRs and Climbers. Pruning should be done with sharp, by-pass pruning shears. These will prevent crushing the cane. Make the cut just above a bud eye. The objective of spring pruning is to encourage the growth of a strong, vigorous bush with lots of blooms. The first step is to remove obviously dead canes. Prune the cane to where the inside of the cane is white-green in color. The second step is to remove all spindly growth that cannot support a bloom. The third step is to remove canes that rub on another cane; this also means removing growth that clutters the inside of the bush. You are attempting to create a bush that has an open center to reduce disease and insect problems. Finally, if the bush is too large for the space in which it is growing, trim the bush to fit the space.

    Many in Omaha find that cane borers will drill down a newly-cut cane and lay eggs, eventually killing the cane. To prevent this loss you can seal the end of the newly cut cane with a drop of Elmer’s white glue. Don’t use school glue; it will wash off. Elmer’s goes on white and dries clear allowing you to see which canes have been sealed.

    Water

    – during the growing season, roses need lots of water. Give the rose at least one inch of water per week. If nature doesn’t supply it, you must. The best way to water is with some soaker or sprinkler that will water the plants at ground level without unnecessarily wetting the leaves – this will reduce the chances of disease problems. To conserve water and further reduce problems, mulch your rose bed. Ground bark, OmaGro, compost, coco shells, or ground leaves work well. Bark chunks are less satisfactory. Do not use rock mulch as it retains heat and is difficult to work with later. Do not use landscape fabric, as it is difficult to plant in and to fertilize through.Water the rose bed before applying fertilizer. Apply a cup of fertilizer around each large rose. Apply just a quarter-cup to each miniature bush. Scratch the fertilizer gently into the soil or mulch. Water the bed again.

    Fertilize

    – Use a balanced, inexpensive fertilizer (10-10-10, 12-12-12, 5-10-5 or similar) monthly from mid-April thru mid-august. Don’t buy the expensive “rose food” instead try your nearby feed store or garden center for a large bag of fertilizer.

    Removing Spent Blooms

    – The process of removing spent blooms is usually called dead-heading. Removing dead flowers from your rose bushes will mean more flowers. When spent blooms are left on the bush, most rose varieties will form a seed hip. To keep your bush blooming, remove the spent bloom.There are two ways to do this ongoing pruning. We’ve all heard that you should cut back at least to just above the first five-leaf leaflet. This will give you a large bloom with a long stem. The other way to deadhead is to remove the spent bloom just below the bloom itself. This will give you new blooms in a quicker time-frame. The blooms will be smaller and on shorter stems.Which method should you use? If you want blooms on stems for cutting for the house, use the five-leaf method. If you want lots of garden color, use the “just below the bloom” method. Either method will give you more blooms than letting the bush form hips. While you are removing spent blooms, keep an eye out for dead or spindly growth and remove that at the same time. It might be wise to seal you cuts with Elmer’s glue also.

    Diseases

    – Roses in Omaha can be subject to two fungal diseases. The first step to preventing the diseases is to select varieties that are bred to be resistant to them. Blackspot is characterized by black spots on the leaves that become more numerous and are connected by yellow tissue. The leaf will eventually die and fall off. Enough loss of leaves will severely weaken the plant and hasten its death. The disease is spread during hot moist conditions, particularly in the summer. Powdery mildew is shown as a white powdery coating on the tops of leaves. It will weaken the plant, but is commonly thought of as just disfiguring the foliage. It grows most during cool, dry weather. Both diseases can be prevented with the use of a good protective fungicide. Ask at the meetings of the Omaha Rose Society or at your garden center. Spraying has to begin in the spring and continue through the fall. Be sure to follow closely the instructions on the label, especially the amount to use and the protective equipment required.

    Insects

    – The insects of most concern in Omaha are aphids, cucumber beetles,spider mites (spider mites are actually an arachnid) and a few Japanese beetles.
    The author does not like to use insecticides for three reasons:
  • One, insecticides may damage the environment by leaving residues.
  • Two, insecticides may kill beneficial insects as well as the target, thereby possibly actually increasing the numbers of harmful insects.
  • Three, Insecticides are potentially more dangerous to humans than are fungicides.

    • Beetles may be hand-picked from roses and drowned in soapy water. A hard spray of water will remove many aphids and spider mites from the bushes. Horticultural oils and soaps may also prove effective. Try the above remedies first before resorting to an insecticide or miticide.

    Winter protection

    – Our least favorite time of the year in the rose garden is winter. But if you have planted hybrid tea roses, floribunda roses, climbing roses or miniature roses you must prepare your garden for winter. The two enemies of roses in winter are wind and extreme temperature fluctuation. In Omaha, begin preparing your rose garden for winter on November first. (This is a more accurate way to work than waiting for the first hard freeze or other suggestions you may hear. The weather is still warm enough that you will not be inclined to rush your work, but rather will do a thorough job of it.)Wind will whip long rose canes around causing breakage of canes and loosening of roots. For most roses, pruning the canes to waist high will prevent wind damage. You can also tie the canes together in a bundle to support each other. You can use a windbreak of landscape fabric to lessen winds effects.Canes on climbing roses should not be pruned in the fall as you may lose spring blooms. To protect climbers, wrap burlap around the canes or remove them from the trellis, lay them on the ground and cover them with leaves. Those of us who grow hybrid teas, miniatures or floribundas may wish to reduce winter loss caused by change of temperature. Your winter cover will depend on how concerned you are about loss of plants and your experience with those plants.Your cover may be as simple as pulling mulch up around the base of the plant. This will provide adequate protection for hardier roses. You may also heap mulch or leaves or dirt around the plant. Mounds do tend to decrease in height as the winter wears on. You may wish to replenish the mounds as winter wears on.More tender plants will require more protection: Collars --- may be made of newspapers or wire fencing or you may purchase readymade plastic collars. Secure the collar around the plant and fill it with mulch or leaves or dirt. The rose canes will be protected to the level of the mulch and the base of the plant is also well-protected. Foam rose cones --- may be used. Use the large cones. Prune the plant to fit into the cone; this will probably require tying the canes together and cinching them up a bit. Place the cone over the plant, cover the base with dirt or mulch and secure the cone from the wind with a brick or rock on top. Be sure the cone is well-ventilated by punching two or three holes just below the top.Potted roses may be moved into an unheated area of a garage or shed to protect them from wind and temperature changes.

    April 15th is the date it is usually safe to uncover roses on in the Omaha area. (Even that rule of thumb has been too early on at least two occasions in my rose-growing career.)

    Advice –Look elsewhere in this site for contact information to receive more help with your roses.